Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I / Fire Spirituality
1. The Fire We Carry, Carries Us
Embers, Flames, Extinguishers
Grassroots on Fire
The Fire Kisses My Soul
O Beautiful for Spacious Skies
Nature Doesn’t Give a Damn
“I Am Somebody, Black and Proud”
Embodied Spirituality
The Seven Ms of Spirituality
“the meaning of life”: More Than 42
Those Who Give Light
2. The Kindling and the Sparks
Gobbling Nothingness
Horatio Alger Had Lucky Bootstraps
Moral Grounding
Enlarging Goodness Is a Spiritual Calling
They Called Me Theirs, but I Hold Them
Hinges of History
We Are Called to Act
The Silent Seduction of Social Media
Part II / Citizen Spirituality
3. We Are the End Game
Power Is an Essential Part of Spirituality
We Advocated Changes
BETTER JAIL CONDITIONS
HANDICAP ACCESS
SCHOOL FOR UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN
Power as the Ability to Act
A Mayor’s Thoughts on Power, by Jim Rurak
Politics Is the Oxygen of Community Life
The Declaration of Independence Was Also
a Declaration of Dependence
People Avoid Politics
Our Soul Brought Us Here
Nine Kitchen Matches
4. By the People
Politics Is a Multiplier
Kathy and Jim Win for People with Disabilities
Neighborhood Organizing, by Patricia E. Myers
Faith-Based Community Organizing
The Spirit of Goddess Was with Us
A Suicide Note from Democracy
Part III / Family as Social Spirituality
5. We Are Crowdsourced
Life Is a Spiritual Mystery
Spiritual Mystery in Social Encounters
Alone with God
No Hermits Here
We Gift One Another
The Blessed Remains of the Dead
We Are Your Symphony
E-Mail Sonnet for My Mother
A Reply from My Mother
6. Our Souls Overlap
From Me to We
“And on That Night, Only People Were Precious”
In the Plaza
We Are All Family
Family Values
Heart Friends Help Us Grow
Spiritual Identity Communities
Si Son de Otro Linage
I Still Don’t Know His Name
The More “Other,” the More We Can Learn
Shall We Gather in the Kitchen?
We Walk with the Wind
The Sun Rises Like Fire
Part IV / Congregations as Social Spirituality
7. Spirituality with Benefits
Doubt, Damage, and Decline
They Sang “Jesus Loves Me” Then Slit the Throat of a Water Buffalo
Admit the Harm We Have Done
Seventy Percent Is Good Enough
Why Do People Attend?
Supportive Communities
Servants under the Radar
One Pale Blue Drop, Falling
8. Congregations Curate, Celebrate, and Communicate the Human Drama
Memory and Meaning
Moral Socialization
Ethical Guidelines
A Place to Celebrate Life with Others
Congregations and Politics
Hell Yes, at Dinnertime
The Firebird
9. Spiritual Disciplines
The Children Were Kinetic Art
The Discipline of Stopping and Noting
The Discipline of Changing Interpretation
Moral and spiritual interpretation
Political interpretation
The Discipline of Altering Emotions
The Discipline of Changing How We Act
Nurturing and caring
Charity
Service
Charitable politics
The Secret
Spiritual Disciplines of Public Life
Afterword
